Spring contracting and removing device.



G. W. BRYANT.

SPRING CONTRACTING AND REMOVING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. '7, 1911.

Patented Nov. 14,1911.

2 SHEETS -SHEET1.

ii7 zeae.s 1 1 1 G. W. BRYANT. SPRING CONTRACTING AND REMOVING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.7,1911.

Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 ZQL' 5265563 GEORGE w. BRYANT, or NEW YORK, 1v. Y.

SPRING CONTRACTING AND REMOVING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

*flpplication filed February 7, 1911. Serial No. 607,028. e

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BRYANT. a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, count-y of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring Contracting and Removing Devices. fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to tools or devices for contracting springs; ,and more especially to devices intended for contracting and removing or placing in position the valve springs of explosion engines. Such valve springs, and especially those of automobile engines, are frequently or usually so located that access to them is obstructed by other parts or attachments of the engine so that it is extremely difficult to get proper access to the springs for contracting them for releasing the pressure on the valve stem and removing the valve or for removing the springs or placing them in position. Various attempts have been made heretofore by others to provide tools for placing and removing these springs or for compressing or lifting them to release the pressure on the valve stem, but such tools have been of such shape and size or operated in such a way that they can be used only with great difficulty and inconvenience, and are entirely useless with many styles of engines, and are usually limited in their use to a. particular operation such as a mere lifting of the lower end of the spring byraising the disk on which the spring rests to relieve the pressure on the valve stem.

The object of'the present invention is to provide av device of this character which shall combine great strength and power with ease of operation and adjustment and such compactness and simplicity of construction and adaptability to being used in different positions and with its parts in different relative positions, that it shall be adapted for convenient use with all styles of engines.

To these ends, the invention consists in the construction and arrangement and combinations of parts in a device of the character referred to as hereinafter fully described and specifically pointed out inthe claims.

A full understanding of the invention can best be given by a detailed description of a preferred construction embodying the same, and of some of the many ways in which the device may be used,'and such a description will now be given in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side sectional view of a preferred form of device embodying the invention showing the parts of the device in open position for contracting or compressing a valve spring separate from the engine, this figure being taken on line l-l of Fig. 3 but with the spring omitted. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation looking from the left in Fig. 1, and showing a valve spring engaged by the de vice ready to be compressed. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device as shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 44. of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a side view show ing a spring engaged as in'Fig. 2, but compressed by the operation of the device. Fig. 6 is a view showing the valve and spring and other parts of an engine and the tool or compressing device in position with its spring engaging member entered between lower coils of the spring and after having been operated to compress the spring to lift the lower end of the spring away from the spring disk on the valve stem, leaving the spring disk, key and valve free to be removed. Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but showing the compressing device in position with the body portion thereof inverted and restingon the engine bed. Fig. 8 is a side view showing the device placed in engagement with a valve spring in position for compressing the spring to remove the .spring and spring disk together from the engine. Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8, but showing the'device placed in position for compressing and removing the spring without the spring disk.

Referring to the drawings, and first to Figs. 1 to 5, the compressing tool or device comprises an elongated stock or body piece 10. which, as shown, is of tubular or cylindrical form, and a carrying rod or bar 11 mounted to move endwise in the bore or guide way of the body piece. The rod 11 has formed on, or rigidly secured to, one end a spring-engaging member 12, the

spring engaging part of which is of U shape or forked so that its two sides or prongs may extend, when pushed. into the sprin'g,' on eithersideof the valve stem and is made sufliciently thin so as tobe readily entered; d

between "the coils of the springfiandythe prongs are-of sufficient width to enable the member to engage properly springsvarying considerably in diameter. The body piece 10-is formed with ,a longitudinal slot 13 on oneside extending from the upper end of the bodypiece as it stands-in Figs.-

as it stands in Figs. 1 and 2' with an engaging member 15. This member;15 is also of U or fork shape to straddle the valve stem or valve lifting rod, and is made flat and; thin and of sufficient size, preferably of; somewhat greater surface extent than the engaging member 12, to provide a good support for the lower end of the s ring when separating movement of the engaging members, the carrying rod is formed on the side opposite to the side from which theengaging member 12- projects with teeth forming a. rack which is engaged bya gear 17 mounted in a chamber in an ex-- tension or enlargement 1,8 of the bodyi piece. The rod 11 and gear 17 and the engaging member 12' are best made of steel to give the required "strength,and the teeth of 2 the rack and gear should be cut accurately for strength and ease ofoperation. The.

gear is set in a chamber opening from one side of the enlargement 18 of the bodyzpiece, and, the gear shaft or bearing stud on p one side of the gear extends through and has its bearing in an opening in the wall at the inner end of the chamber, the other end ofthe chamber being. closed after the gear is in position by a disk 19 formed with, an. opening to provide a'bearing for the gear shaft or hearing stud .'on that side of the gear, as shown in Fig. 4. The ends of the gear shaft project and are squared or-otherwise formed for turning engagement by a key or wrench. Having squared ends of the gear shaft project from opposite sides'of i I I the body or stock piece of the tool enables the gear to be operated from either .side of the tool. A single operating gear as shown I gives suflicient power for springs having a pressure up to 250 or 300 pounds andis for use on such springs preferably because of the greater simplicity of construction and quickness of action, but it will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the use of a single gear, and that if desired or where necessary for compressing more powerful springs two or more gears for increasthe applied power may be used. In or- 'er to prevent reverse movement of the carirying rod 11, and to. hold it in any posi- .-tion to which it has been moved in compressing a spring, a stop pawl or detent 20 is provided to engage the teeth of the gear 17 so as to permit-the gear to be turned in one direction and to lock it against movement in,

the opposite direction. This pawl, as shown, is mounted in the upper'end of a recess or chamber 21 extending into the body or stock piece from the lower end thereof as it stands in Figs. 1 to 5 and across the gear chamber, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 4. The pawl is formed by a block or head which has an' engaging tooth beveled on one side and which is fittedto move toward and from the gear in the chamber 21 and is formed with or fastened to a guiding and lifting rod 22 which extends upward through the'wall at the upper end of the pawl chamber, the pawl being pressed to duty by a spring coiled on the rod 22. In order to adapt the used as shown in Figs. 2 and 5'. FFor moving the-rod 11 endwise in the body or stock piece for causing a relative approaching or tool to use in various ways, some of which are hereinafter-pointed out, it is desirable that the locking pawl or catch may be set for movement of the gear in either direction. For this purpose, in the construction shown the pawl chamber is made cylindrical so that when the pawl is lifted by means of the rod 22 upward to clear it from the teeth of the gear, it may be given a half turn, as from the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4, and then allowed tocome into engagement with the gear teeth again in position to permit the gear'to turn in the opposite direction and to hold it against turning in the direction in which it was before free to turn. In assembling the gear and thepawl in the --construction shown, the pawl with its spring is first placed in position through the openthat by lifting and turning this turned over end from one side to the otherthe pawl will be shifted to permit the gear to be turned to move the rod 11in either direction and to lock it against movement in the other direction.

I'twill be seen that the construction, as shown and above described, is such thatthe carrying rod or rack bar 11 may be placed in the bore of the stock or body piece from either end of the latter, and that in which.-

either toward or from theen'ga'gingmember on the stock piece according to the adjustment of the ratchet 20, and that it will always be locked against reverse movement.

12 and 15 in engagement with a spring sepa- .ends bear.

rate from the engine ready for compressing the spring, the lower end of the spring resting on the member 15 and the member 12 extending between coils of the spring near its upper end. The catch pawl being in position as shown 1n Figs. 1 and 4, the gear is free to be turned to move the bar 11 downward to cause an approaching movement'between the engaging members 12 and 15, whereby the spring will be compressed. Fig. 5 shows the parts in position after such movement -and with the spring held compressed. The spring when so compressed may, while held by the tool, be placed in position in the engine about the valve stem and between the spring disk on the stem, and the upper disk or other part against which the upper end of the spring is to engage. The catch pawl may then be lifted to permit theengaging members to move apart, such movement being best restrained by the operating key or wrench and stopped before the spring has been allowed to make its full expansion to come into strong pressing engagement with the parts against which its The compressing device may then be pulled out from the spring, allowing the spring to complete its expansion and seat itself in operative position.

The engaging prongs: of the spring engaging member 12 are for'the. most'satisfactory operation of the device best bent, one

'sli g'htly upward and one sli htly downward,

as shown in the drawings see especially in Fig. 2).' The engaging member will thus conform more or less accurately to the pitch 1 of the spring and a better and more even holding engagement with the spring williresult. The drawings show the prongs-of this engaging member bent for operating on a spring having a right-hand coil. For a spring having a left-hand coil, the bending of the prongs of the engaging member should, obviously, be reversed. The tool will usually be supplied with the prongs of this engaging member standing in the same plane, that is, with the member flat-so that they may be bent for use with either a righthand or deft-hand spring, as desired, and

more or less, according to the pitch of the spring. In some cases it is desirable also that the downwardly bent prong or arm of the engaging-member 12 shall 'be provided with a notch, as shown at 25, on its underside at its outer end in position to register with the upper side of the coil of the spring directly beneath it, so as to more securely hold the engaging member and the spring against relative displacement when the spring has been compressed. Such notch may be filed or cut in the engaging member by the user to fit the particular valve springs with which the tool is to be used, or may be formed in the engaging member as sold. In thelatter case, both arms or prongs of the engaging member may be notched but on opposite sides as shown in Fig. 2 to provide for the use of the engaging member either side up.

When it is desired to take the pressure of the spring off from the valve stem to permit the valve to be lifted or removed without compressing device or tool may-be conveniently used as shown in Fig. 6. To use the tool as shown in this figure, the carrying rod is placed in the bore of the body piece .from the same end as shown in Figs. 1' to 5,

but the stop pawl is turned so as to hold against approaching movement of the engaging members of the tool and to engaging members brought to the proper relative position, is inserted to carry its engaging member 12 between the' coils of the spring near the lower end of the spring and the engaging member 15 oven the adjusting collar- 30 on the valve lifting rod 31. The tool is then operated by a suitable key or wrench tov cause a separating movement of the engaging members whereby the member 12 will be lifted to compress the, spring and .to lift its lower end clear of the spring disk 32, as shown in Fig. 6. With the spring held in this position, the disk pin 33 is free to be removed, and the valve and; valve stem may-be lifted or removed and replaced as desired.

Another way of using the tobl for releasing the valve stem from the pressure of the 1 removing the spring from the engine, the

permit separating movement, and the tool, with the spring without removing the spring from v the engine is shown in Fig. 7. As here shown, the rack bar or carrying rod 11 is placed in the bore of the body piece from the other end, and the body piece is turned other side up from the positions shown in Figs. 1 to 6, and the tool is placed in operativeposition with the body piece-resting on the engine bed and the engaging member 12 entered between coils of the spring near the. lower end of the spring. The stop pawl having been set to permit upward movement of the rack bar and engaging member 12 when the body is in this position and to prevent downward movement, the gear is then turned to lift 'thejengaging member-to carry the lower endofthe spring away from the spring disk; as shown, thereby releasing the valve and valve stem as before. The difficulties to be avoided in placing the tool in engaging member 12 between upper coils ofthe spring and the member 15 beneath the spring plate 32, as shown in Fig. 8, the

, spring and spring disk may be removed together after the tool has been operated to cause a relative approaching movement of its engaging members and compression of the spring. The spring may then be held compressed and returned to position and again released if so desired. By entering the engaging member 15 between lower coils of the spring, as shown in Fig. 9, the spring may-be removed separated from the spring disk. If the device is to be used in thisway, the lower engaging member 15, being used as a spring-engaging member, should be formed so'that it may be readily entered between the coils of the spring.

It will be understood that the tool or device may be used otherwise than as in the examples shown and above referred to, and that the invention is not to be limited to the exact construction and arrangement of parts of the device shown and to which the foregoing description has been mainly confined, but that it includes changes and modifications thereof within the claims.

What is claimed is 1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a stock piece, a carrying member mounted to move on the stock piece and having a rack formed thereon, forked engaging members carried one by the stock piece and one by the carrying member, an operating gear mounted in the stock piece in position to engage the rack on the carrying member, and a reversible stop pawl for preventing movement of the carrying member on the stock piece in one direction or the pther according to the position of the aw p 2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a stock piece, a carrying member mounted to move on the stock piece and having a rack formed thereon, forked engaging members carriedone by the stock piece and one by the carrying member, an operating gear mounted in the stock piece in position to engage the rack on the carrying member, and a reversible stop pawl formed by a toothed block spring pressed toward the gear and provided with means therein from either end, forked engaging v members carried one by the stock piece and one by the carrying member, and means mounted on the stock piece for moving the carrying member to cause relative approaching and separating movements between the engaging members.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of a 'stock piece having a guide way formed therein, a carrying rod to move in said guide way and adapted to be inserted therein from either end and having a rack formed thereon, forked engaging members carried one by the stock piece and one bythe carrying rod, an operating gear mounted" in a chamber in the stock piece in position to engage the rack on the carrying rod, and a reversible stop pawl for preventing movement of the carrying rod in one direction or the other according to the position of the pawl.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination of a stock piece, a carrying member mounted to move on thestock piece, means for moving the carrying member, and a forked spring engaging member carried by the carrying member and adapted to be entered from the side of the spring between the coils thereof and having its spring engaging prongs set to diverge in the direction in which they are to be entered between the coils of the spring.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination of a stock piece 10 having a guide way formed therein and open at both ends, and having a chamber open to said guide way and a second chamber 21 extending from the end of the stock piece across the first said chamber, a carrying rod 11 having a rack formed on one side thereof and adapted to move' in said guide way in the stock piece, a gear 17'. mounted in the first said chamber in the stock piece to enygage the rack on the carrying rod, a reversible spring pressed pawl 21 mounted in the second chamber in the stock piece to engage the gear, and engaging members 12 and 15 carried by the carrying rod and the stock piece respectively.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination of a stock piece having a guide way formed therein, a carrying rod to move in said guide way and adapted to be inserted therein from either end, engaging members carried one by the stock piece and one by the carrying rod, operating means carried by the stock piece for moving the carrying rod endwise in the guide way, and. means for reventing reverse In testimony whereof I have hereunto movement of the carryln rod, said last set my hand, in the presence of tW submentioned means being a ustable to prescribing witnesses.

vent mvement of the carrying rod in either GEORGE W. BRYANT. 5 direction while permitting movement in the Witnesses n v opposite direction with the carrying rod in- A. I KENT,

sertgd from either end of the guide way. JEANNE'ITE STORK. 

